"I am the worst person in the world to consult upon legendary antiquities," answered Glossin.
"I could sing such a ballad," said Bertram, "from one end to another when I was a boy—you must know I left Scotland, which is my native country, very young, and those who brought me up discouraged, all my attempts to preserve recollection of my native land, on account, I believe, of a boyish wish which I had to escape from their charge."
"Very natural," said Glossin, but speaking as if his utmost efforts were unable to unseal his lips beyond the width of a quarter of an inch, so that his whole utterance was a kind of compressed muttering, very different from the round bold bullying voice with which he usually spoke. Indeed his appearance and demeanour during all this conversation seemed to diminish even his strength and stature, so that he withered as it were into the shadow of himself, now advancing one
